Production and characterization of antimicrobial bacterial cellulose membranes with non-leaching activity

Balancing mechanical property and swelling behavior of bacterial cellulose film by in-situ adding chitosan oligosaccharide and covalent crosslinking with γ-PGA

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is an ideal candidate material for drug delivery, but the disbalance between the swelling behavior and mechanical properties limits its application. In this work, covalent crosslinking of γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) with the chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) embedded in BC was designed to remove the limitation. As a result, the dosage, time, and batch of COS addition significantly affected the mechanical properties and the yield of bacterial cellulose complex film (BCCF). The addition of 2.25 % COS at the incubation time of 0.5, 1.5, and 2 d increased the Young's modulus and the yield by 5.65 and 1.42 times, respectively, but decreased the swelling behavior to 1774 %, 46 % of that of native BC. Covalent γ-PGA transformed the dendritic structure of BCCF into a spider network, decreasing the porosity and increasing the swelling behavior by 3.46 times. The strategy balanced the swelling behavior and mechanical properties through tunning hydrogen bond, electrostatic interaction, and amido bond. The modified BCCF exhibited a desired behavior of benzalkonium chlorides transport, competent for drug delivery. Thereby, the strategy will be a competent candidate to modify BC for such potential applications as wound dressing, artificial skin, scar-inhibiting patch, and so on.

Bacterial Cellulose-Based Blends and Composites: Versatile Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering Applications

Cellulose of bacterial origin, known as bacterial cellulose (BC), is one of the most versatile biomaterials that has a huge potential in tissue engineering due to its favourable mechanical properties, high hydrophilicity, crystallinity, and purity. Additional properties such as porous nano-fibrillar 3D structure and a high degree of polymerisation of BC mimic the properties of the native extracellular matrix (ECM), making it an excellent material for the fabrication of composite scaffolds suitable for cell growth and tissue development. Recently, the fabrication of BC-based scaffolds, including composites and blends with nanomaterials, and other biocompatible polymers has received particular attention owing to their desirable properties for tissue engineering. These have proven to be promising advanced materials in hard and soft tissue engineering. This review presents the latest state-of-the-art modified/functionalised BC-based composites and blends as advanced materials in tissue engineering. Their applicability as an ideal biomaterial in targeted tissue repair including bone, cartilage, vascular, skin, nerve, and cardiac tissue has been discussed. Additionally, this review briefly summarises the latest updates on the production strategies and characterisation of BC and its composites and blends. Finally, the challenges in the future development and the direction of future research are also discussed.

Bacterial Cellulose-A Remarkable Polymer as a Source for Biomaterials Tailoring

Nowadays, the development of new eco-friendly and biocompatible materials using ‘green’ technologies represents a significant challenge for the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields to reduce the destructive actions of scientific research on the human body and the environment. Thus, bacterial cellulose (BC) has a central place among these novel tailored biomaterials. BC is a non-pathogenic bacteria-produced polysaccharide with a 3D nanofibrous structure, chemically identical to plant cellulose, but exhibiting greater purity and crystallinity. Bacterial cellulose possesses excellent physicochemical and mechanical properties, adequate capacity to absorb a large quantity of water, non-toxicity, chemical inertness, biocompatibility, biodegradability, proper capacity to form films and to stabilize emulsions, high porosity, and a large surface area. Due to its suitable characteristics, this ecological material can combine with multiple polymers and diverse bioactive agents to develop new materials and composites. Bacterial cellulose alone, and with its mixtures, exhibits numerous applications, including in the food and electronic industries and in the biotechnological and biomedical areas (such as in wound dressing, tissue engineering, dental implants, drug delivery systems, and cell culture). This review presents an overview of the main properties and uses of bacterial cellulose and the latest promising future applications, such as in biological diagnosis, biosensors, personalized regenerative medicine, and nerve and ocular tissue engineering.

A novel dual crosslinked polysaccharide hydrogel with self-healing and stretchable properties

We synthesized oxidatively modified acetoacetyl cellulose OCAA, and then a double-network polysaccharide complex hydrogel was prepared. The hydrogel exhibited very good mechanical strength, self-healing behavior, and good biocompatibility.